Child benefit & NI contributions

[JapanRed]

Hi all,

When we had our first child (now 2 years old) I was advised that my wife should claim child benefits even though I earn over £60,000 so would in effect end up paying it all back. This is so that she can continue to build up NI contributions for the state pension.

We now have a second child (who is 6m old but I forgot to look into this at the time).

Do we need to register to claim child benefit for the second child, or is registering the first enough?

Thanks. Rob

[jonwm]

You need to register for both, I'm in the same position as you, i used to claim it then pay back in SA, didn't realise till last year that wife was getting no NI contributions so had to swap over.

I'm in the murky world of BIK taking me over the £50k so didn't realise for 3 years as earned under the threshold...I had a good tax bill a few years ago :-(

[Tim330]

You can register your wife for it then ring them up and tell them not to make the payments. That way your wife still gets the pension credit but you won't have to pay it back in your self assessment.

[JapanRed]

Thanks both,

Jonwm what’s the reason for needing to register both of them?

Cheers

[jonwm]

JapanRed said:

Thanks both,

Jonwm what’s the reason for needing to register both of them?

Cheers

Sorry I misunderstood, I claimed again as when I had my second I was under the threshold, as you are over the 60k you wouldn't need to for NI credits.

Sorry for the confusion